{"id":8072,"date":"2010-12-22T09:15:56","date_gmt":"2010-12-22T13:15:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pmedicine.org\/epatients\/?p=8072"},"modified":"2010-12-22T09:18:05","modified_gmt":"2010-12-22T13:18:05","slug":"a-lot-of-shackling-lives-in-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/participatorymedicine.org\/epatients\/2010\/12\/a-lot-of-shackling-lives-in-language.html","title":{"rendered":"“A lot of shackling lives in language”"},"content":{"rendered":"

What do we (patients) call ourselves? This is a deep subject that’s been debated a lot. (If I were Susannah Fox I’d toss in a dozen worthy links here:), but I’m short on time. Please add some in comments.)<\/p>\n

There is indeed power in the words we use, because the people who hear them attach meaning to them, and as change unfolds, it’s important to distinguish between our words, the reality they represent, and all the different meanings different people intend and hear. SPM* member Fred Trotter has a weighty post this week, A Patient By Any Other Name<\/a>. Here’s a comment I added.
\n_____<\/p>\n

Hey Fred \u2013 when I was in college in the Nixon years, my more radical friends often debated the power of language especially during a revolution. I\u2019m no radical compared to them, nor to some of the more intense people I know in the patient movement, but I agree there\u2019s something to it. Revolutions (race, gender, whatever) involve unshackling, and a lot of shackling lives in language.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always thought there are two changes in a social revolution: the underlying reality and the language we use to discuss life. There\u2019s a period of intense discomfort during which the reality is shifting and the language no longer fits \u2013 just like a bad shoe. People start to see themselves (and others) in the new reality, and they say \u201cThat old language isn\u2019t me, no sir!\u201d Others say \u201cIt *is* me \u2013 I\u2019m the NEW [whatever].\u201d Some take over the old words, even the pejoratives, and take ownership in the new world, as some blacks have done with \u201cnigger.\u201d They assert that\u00a0that<\/em> signifies real power \u2013 \u201cThe Man no longer gets to say.\u00a0We<\/em> get to say. The language of your dominance no longer applies.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t mean to sound like an expert on this because I was no expert, just an observer. My point here is that we in the movement ought to be thinking about where we sit, collectively, on the timeline of transition. Many of us are awakening to our power, just as blacks and women did during their revolutions. Perhaps we should track both issues independently: the reality, and what we call it \u2013 AND what others hear when they hear our words. Because a social revolution\u2019s not complete until the old meaning\u2019s obsolete.
\n_____<\/p>\n

*For newcomers, SPM = Society for Participatory Medicine<\/a>. This is the blog of the SPM; its journal is JoPM<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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